Different Effects of the Past
by History101
Summary: Sequel to my story 'What Happens in the Past Doesn't Have to Stay There.' Danny and Jazz are left in Vlad's care when their parents are invited to an adults only ghost conference. I don't own any original rights.
1. Everyone In Between

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 1: Everyone In Between**

* * *

A.N. Now, 'What Happens in the Past Doesn't Have to Stay There' takes place after the episode 'Masters of Time', so right now, in this timeline, Vlad is living in his Wisconsin Castle, he is NOT the mayor and Danny has no ice powers yet which means I get to have some fun with it later on.

Also, from everything I looked up, for my story I put Amity Park around about in the North of Minnesota. Just for reference. Now please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

It was now three weeks since Vlad had first been afflicted with his second bout of ecto-acne and though he was still quite weak he was well enough to be soaring through the Ghost Zone. He'd spent the last week reading and rereading through everything he could find that had a mention of Clockwork the Master of Time in it. Having never met the ghost before he was apprehensive to say the least but now at least he knew everything he could possibly know about him via the written word and the boy thing left was to go hunting for him. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could defeat the Master of Time, not after everything he'd learned about Clockwork's powers, but he could at least voice his disapproval.

It took him longer than he would've liked, but eventually, Vlad flew down to the floating tower surrounded by wheels and cogs and he found Clockwork waiting for him.

"I've been expecting you," the Master of Time turned and smiled at Vlad, his appearance changing to his elderly state, "I am Clockwork, Master of Time, but you knew that."

"If that's indeed the case," Vlad began, planting his feet firmly on the ground, not wanting to waster energy floating when he didn't need to. "Then you know what I'm going to say," he frowned.

"I do," Clockwork nodded briefly, "And believe me when I say that I am sorry and that had there been another way to accomplish what was necessary I would have done it."

"I don't want to hear your excuses," the hybrid scoffed, angered further when the ghost only smiled again.

"No, you want to complain, well, you don't need to, I've heard it all before you've even said it."

"Well you can hear it again, and perhaps it will sink in this time," Vlad shot back, "The Behemoth, I assume was your doing as well."

"Of course," Clockwork nodded, "But that's not important, what is important is that you listen to me and start setting aside your grudge against Danny's father."

"I think my grudge is more justified than most," Vlad snarled, "I can't simply set it aside."

"Some some might call it 'fate', that things happened the way they did."

"Fate?!" Vlad yelled, "What possible reason could there be for me to deserve such a 'fate'; to be bitter and alone, the only one of my kind for twenty years?"

"You choose to be alone, just as you always have, the fault lies with you."

"I had no other choice," the hybrid snarled.

"Danny seems to think differently about his own situation."

"He's still a child, I wasn't."

"Yes, and as such, he has much to learn, much he could learn from you, if you would but teach him."

"If you really do know all, then you know that I've offered and he has declined, several times, I might add. What more can I do?" Vlad shrugged.

"You and I both know that the price you ask for your guidance is too high. Danny will never give you what you desire and so it keeps you from the one thing you desire. You know he will never renounce his father or his moral code and I can't help but wonder if it's your jealousy that keeps this vain hope afloat."

"Jealousy?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.

"Danny has the potential to become much more powerful than you; the energy that caused his transformation was much more potent and unpolluted than yours. I believe you've more than once thought about how powerful he could be once he matures. Is that why you ask such a high price, because you don't actually want him to learn from you and surpass you someday?"

"I want more than anything else to teach Daniel," Vlad growled.

"Really?" Clockwork narrowed his eyes, "I'm relieved to hear it.

"Surely you already know that."

"I know you are confused," the Time Master replied, "I know you deeply care for the boy even if you can't explain why you care. You've gotten so used to the idea that your wealth can buy you everything and you've been faced with the opposite. You are an intelligent man and yet your actions over the past few years say anything but."

"I'm also a man who doesn't appreciate criticism."

"I know," Clockwork smiled, "That's why you need it. I had important reasons for doing what I did and I don't expect you to understand them yet, but what you do need to understand is that your actions have consequences. I've seen a hundred different futures for both you and Danny and just know that not all of them are antagonistic."

"What proof do I have of these 'different futures'?"

"You will have to settle for my word, I cannot show you," the Time Master replied.

"How convenient."

"If you continue on your current path, mark my words, you will regret it. Not only will you isolate yourself from Danny, but from the entire world as well."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it means. There are limits to what I can and cannot tell you; ultimately, the decision to change must be yours alone, there's only so much 'help' I can offer."

"So far you've 'offered' nothing but criticisms to me and insights into my past to Daniel when you have no right to give either."

"I have every right, it is my duty, I am the Master of Time, both human and ghost time...and everyone in between."

"And that gives you the right to display my life like an open book to a group of...of...of teenagers?!" Vlad breathed heavily, his furry surfacing again.

"Yes, it does."

"No, it doesn't! It's my life, not yours, not Daniel's, you have no right show anyone anything! That right is mine alone!"

"So, if I were to offer you the same opportunity...say...a chance to understand Danny's life a little more, what would you say then?" Clockwork asked suddenly with a smile.

"What?"

"You've studied Danny extensively, you know his limits, you know his mind better than he knows it himself and yet you don't understand him as a person, just like he didn't understand you until I did what I did. It seems only fitting that I give you the same chance."

"Don't even think about it!" Vlad exclaimed quickly and the Time ghost tilted his head with a knowing smile. "I understand the boy perfectly well, I don't require your 'opportunity'."

"Is this in deference of his privacy or in regards to your own ego?"

"Don't you know?"

"Humour me."

"You've no right to ask that of me," the man sneered.

"And nor have you any right to treat Danny as you have done, but that doesn't stop you, does it?"

"I am training him."

"Like you were 'trained'?" the ghost replied, making Vlad catch his breath, "You still resent your father for what he did...is that how you want Danny to see you...forever?"

"He...won't learn any other way..." Vlad insisted, looking away

"How do you know?" Clockwork asked gently, "You haven't tried...but it's not to late to do so."

"I'm too old to change."

"No one is ever too old, believe me, I know. You don't need to trust me, Vladimir, you need to trust yourself," Clockwork replied enigmatically.

Vlad scoffed and shook his head in frustration; the conversation wasn't gong as he'd planned and he'd learned nothing. He didn't want to stay in the presence of the Master of Time any longer because the ghost was speaking to him as a superior and to Vlad that was unacceptable. He knew that nothing he said would make Clockwork see things his way and that any further 'discussion' would be a complete waste of time. So without any further thought, Vlad let out an exasperated breath and teleported away, leaving the Master of Time with a knowing smile on his face.

* * *

"...An adults only ghost conference in Indiana?" Danny repeated incredulously. He was sat the the kitchen table, his hand frozen half way up to his mouth with milk and cereal dripping from the spoon he held. Blinking in confusion he dropped the spoon back int the bowl and stared at his parents who were looking very, very excited. Both Maddie and Jack Fenton were all but jumping up and down in uncontrollable joy as Maddie held the invitation in her hand ad they smiled at their two children sat at the table.

Danny and Jazz shared a look of confusion and turned back to their parents, "Erm...who sent this...invitation?" Danny asked them.

"Who cares?! It's adults only!" he laughed, "I'll go pack the Fenton gear!" he cried and went running through the house in joy.

"Don't start without me!" Maddie giggled and ran after him.

"...Y'know..." Danny sighed, "Sometimes I wonder who the adults are supposed to be in this house."

"You're not the only one," his sister smiled kindly back, "But it's not like they go away much - let them have their fun."

"I don't know if it will be fun," Danny shook his head, "What if this is one of Vlad's schemes, I mean, he hasn't done anything in a while so maybe this is his way of saying 'Im still here, and I still plan on making your life miserable.' He's pulled this stupid stunt before, Jazz," he said, "He did this before and then he made the plane crash so me and mom had to stay in his stupid, creepy chalet...it didn't exactly go according to plan."

"I don't know...it's seems a bit..." Jazz shrugged, "Maybe this isn't Vlad," she suggested, "It's not very smart to try the same thing twice after all, if it didn't work the first time."

"I guess, but..." Danny shrugged, unconvinced.

"Just don't remind mom and dad about getting us a..." Jazz began when their parents came crashing back into the room.

"By the way, kids," Maddie began, "You'll need a babysitter."

"I knew it," Jazz moped, "Mom, I'm old enough to look after myself and Danny..."

"I don't need 'looking after'," Danny protested, "...And what about all the ghost equipment here? It scares away the mailman let alone a babysitter!"

"He's got a point," Jack said to his wife.

"Well, we can't leave them on their own, Jack," Maddie replied.

"I've got it!" he grinned, snapping his fingers in a eureka moment, "They can stay with Vladdie!"

"What?!" Danny and Jazz exclaimed simultaneously.

"We will have to drive past Wisconsin anyway...it won't be too far out of our way," Maddie mulled over the idea.

"Why can't we just stay with Sam or Tucker?" Danny asked quickly.

"One of you maybe, but not both of you; we've got enough trouble with the neighbours without asking for favours," his mother answered quickly.

"If you had some friends you could've stayed with them," Danny muttered to his sister who scowled back.

"I'll call Vladdie!" Jack grinned, running off again and Maddie followed.

"Just great," Danny pushed away his long forgotten bowl of cereal and flopped down onto the table, "I'm going to stay with my arch enemy...just great."

"I thought things weren't so bad now," Jazz said.

"Well, he hasn't tried any stupid stunts like I said, unless this is one of 'em, but that doesn't mean that everything's okay."

"And mom and dad still don't know that we know that he's our go..."

"Don't say it!" Danny quickly stopped her.

"Why not?"

"Because," he muttered.

"Because what?"

"Just because, Jazz, that's why."

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I think you should've asked them about it."

"Oh really, and how would I explain how we found out? Should I tell them that a ghost told me?!" Danny scoffed, "That'd go down really well, what a good idea, genius."

"Well, it's better than ignoring it, it's not a problem that's going to just go away if you ignore it for the rest of your life."

"I won't ignore it for the rest of **my** life...I'll just ignore it for the rest of **his** life," her brother mumbled pedantically.

"Danny," she sighed, "I know you care about this, just like I know that you kept that pocket watch he gave you."

"How'd you know that?"

"I know where you hide it too," Jazz grinned.

"How?!"

"I'm supposed to know these things, I'm your sister," she answered.

"You've been snooping in my room again, haven't you?" Danny asked flatly.

"Danny!" Jack yelled out and Danny sighed as he walked through into the sitting room where his father handed him the phone, "Vladdie wants to talk to you."

"Erm...hi..." Danny said, after he took the phone and before he could get in another syllable, Vlad spoke up.

"Daniel - finally some sanity - what took you so long?" Vlad demanded and Danny frowned.

"Huh?" the boy blinked in confusion.

"Your father has been blathering on about a new stupid invention or other without any explanation for five very long minutes and if you don't tell me what's going on, I'll..."

"...He didn't mention the conference then?" Danny asked slowly.

"No," Vlad answered curtly.

"The conference in Indiana?"

"No."

"Oh..." Danny sighed, "...This is awkward..."

"Explain," Vlad ordered.

"See...there's a conference in Indiana..."

"I gathered."

"...And mom and dad are going...and dad says...we - me and Jazz, are supposed to stay with you," Danny explained quickly, "It wasn't my idea, okay, so don't go crazy or anything, I said I'd stay with my friends, but because Jazz doesn't have any friends, mom said...Jazz! Knock it off!" he broke off when Jazz threw a cushion at him. "Sorry," he turned his attention back to Vlad, "Mom said because they'd be driving through Wisconsin it be easy for us to stay with you, and she didn't want to ask the neighbours for any favours since they don't get along anyway, and dad said he'd tell you about it but he must've got distracted so...erm...that's it..."

"I see," Vlad said.

"Look...you didn't plan this, did you?" Danny sighed, "Because I remember that last time you..."

"No," Vlad rolled his eyes, interrupting Danny, "In fact I was planning on going to the conference myself, but when I heard that your parents were invited I...naturally changed my mind."

"You mean when you heard dad was going."

"...Yes, that."

"And you knew about the conference before I even said anything?"

"Yes."

"So you didn't really need me to explain anything?"

"Not really, no," Vlad chuckled.

"Not funny."

"Very funny," the older hybrid corrected, "The thought that I can terrify you even over the telephone is a very reassuring one."

"Fruitloop," Danny muttered, "I wasn't scared," he mumbled after.

"Of course not."

"I don't care whether you let us stay or not, I'd rather stay at Skulker's, and that's saying something," the young hybrid shot back angrily. "In fact, I'd rather fight the Ghost King with both my arms tied behind my back..."

"In that case, I'd be delighted to let you and your sister stay at my castle," Vlad replied cheerfully.

"...You do realise how warped that whole statement was after what I just said...right?"

"Naturally."

"Argh!" Danny gritted his teeth, "You're such a fruitloop!"

"You've said that so many times, Daniel, it's lost all meaning," Vlad deadpanned.

"Then I'll just come up with some new insults."

"I would advise you to use your head this time round, but I wouldn't want my favourite godson to give himself an aneurism."

"Say what?!" Danny yelled, "Now see here, you no good, lying, stupid..."

"Danny..." Jazz coughed lightly, cutting off her younger brother before their parents could hear as they walked into the room.

"Sorry, mom, looks like we'll be staying home after all, Vlad doesn't want us there," Danny said quickly.

"I said nothing of the kind," Vlad replied, but of course no one else heard.

"That doesn't sound like Vladdie," Jack scratched his head and marched over to take the phone from his son.

"No, dad, don't..." Danny protested and was ignored.

"Vladdie, Danny says..."

"I heard what he said, Jack, it was just a small misunderstanding, I told him that the children of my friend are always welcome at my home," Vlad told him and Jack beamed.

"There, see Danny, no worries, Vladdie says he'd love you to stay over," the large man in orange smiled.

"But I..." Danny began.

"Thanks, V-man," Jack smiled, "We'll see you soon," he said, putting down the phone.

"...Oh, nuts," the young hybrid muttered to himself and he was sure that Vlad was laughing over in Wisconsin; laughing at him.


	2. A Sleepless Night

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 2: A Sleepless Night**

* * *

Danny was most decidedly not a happy hybrid. Not only was he crammed in the back of the Fenton RV with his sister and all of their luggage with their parents luggage as well, he was going to spend two whole weeks in the same castle as his arch enemy. He couldn't understand why his parents wanted to drag a five day conference out for fourteen days and it only made it easier for them to go because their children were off school. It was all too convenient for Danny's liking; of course the idea that the organisers of the event planned the conference specifically around the school holidays never really crossed the paranoid young hybrid's mind like it did Jazz's.

For hours on end he tried everything to block out his parents' loud conversations about what they were going to do once they arrived at the conference, about the people they were meeting up with, about which ghost they'd rather dissect, about which ghost hunting weapon was the best and about a thousand other things. He tried listening to loud music he tried playing video games he even tried talking even louder than them with Jazz but it all went over his parents' heads. Danny thought he'd go mad but he knew the only reason his temper was so short was because he knew where this RV ride would end. He didn't know which was worse; being squashed in the back of the RV for hours on end like a sardine, or spending a fortnight in Vlad's castle.

"Danny, you okay?" Jazz asked him, concerned.

"For the millionth time, yes, I'm fine," Danny snapped and instantly regretted it, "Sorry...I just think this is a really bad idea," he said quietly.

"I know, but it might all be for the best."

"...Maybe..." he sighed, "Or maybe it'll make things ten times worse..."

"You want to make it work though, don't you?"

"I...I guess...I mean, I...I know I can't ignore everything, but it's just..."

"All you can do is try, you have more to go on now," Jazz replied.

"Yeah," Danny breathed, "Just don't keep talking psychology stuff at me flr two whole weeks," he told her dryly.

"Only when you need it," she smiled.

"Whatever," her younger brother rolled his eyes.

* * *

As the Fenton RV neared the castle with each passing minute, Vlad himself was stood leaning over a dozen computer screens and laptops in his underground lab with a pensive furrow in his brow. His illness had more or less dissipated but Vlad found that it was still difficult to concentrate on his work for long periods of time before he needed to rest and it irked him to no end.

For over a week he'd been attempting to work and create new, complex formulae for one specific purpose; cloning. It was something that he'd kept on a back burner for a while now and he didn't want to run any tests until he had everything accounted for. But because of the Behemoth that he'd had to fight last week and more recently, his extended hunt for Clockwork in the Ghost Zone, Vlad was left with very energy with which to pursue his task. What he couldn't understand was why he was feeling a nagging doubt in his mind seeming to say that it was a bad idea. Was it his conscience? Vlad doubted it, he hadn't listened to his moral conscience in many a year and he couldn't see why it would resurface now. Hadn't he said before that he was too old, too set in his ways to change? And yet, here was that nagging voice making itself known after so many years; it just didn't make any sense.

There were many things that didn't make any sense to him, some of the more pressing matters were ones that had taken place only a week ago. Why, for example had he not more fervently denied his place as Daniel's godfather when the child had discovered the secret? Why had he given Daniel his father's pocket watch so easily? And why had he so quickly told the boy one of his most puzzling secrets; that he, Vlad Masters, had more or less, made Daniel Fenton the heir to his fortune with no strings attached? He knew, of course, why he'd written it into his will in the first place, but he didn't - couldn't - understand why he'd told the boy about it. Daniel would never have found out if only he'd kept quiet.

With an angry snarl he shut down the computers and the formulae disappeared. He knew that he couldn't allow Danny and his sister into the lab during their stay but they knew where it was which made it rather difficult. Until that is, one took into account that Vlad had designed a new security system to keep out both ghosts and humans and he intended to use it for the fortnight ahead. Although, part of him knew that there was little cause for concern; neither of the Fenton children would understand the scientific equations if given a hundred thousands years because they'd not had the proper training. The Fenton adults, even Maddie, would have a hard time of understanding his formulae and they certainly hadn't tried to teach their children how to do so.

On the periphery of his senses, Vlad could feel Danny's ecto-signature nearing his castle although something about it didn't seem quite right. He'd come to recognise the boy's essence, if he had to put it into words, as a small green light, almost like a flickering candle flame; small and insignificant but capable of growing rapidly. He hadn't noticed anything amiss the last time he'd seen the younger hybrid, but Vlad had been rather occupied with other things at the time. This time it was different, something about it was very different indeed and it was slightly disconcerting that he couldn't explain what or why. A ghost's individual signature wasn't supposed to change but Vlad supposed that because Danny was still young, it couldn't be helped. Still, he'd keep a close eye on the boy just to be sure.

Vlad left the lab, making sure to switch on his security system, and he made his way to the kitchen where the staff he hired from the city on occasion, were busy preparing the best food that money could buy for him and his guests. Though he knew almost everything about Daniel, from the limits of his ghost powers to his favourite foods, the older hybrid was fully aware that the following fortnight was going to be very interesting.

He wasn't sure when to expect their arrival but it was always best to be prepared when one had two teenagers coming to stay. Knowing Jack it wouldn't be at a respectable hour when they finally arrived. The man would be far too 'excited' about the ghost conference and he'd drive none stop to get there. One thing Vlad regretted was that, despite everything; he knew Jack and Maddie very well.

* * *

As Vlad predicted, Jack and Maddie were very eager to get to Indiana as soon as possible so instead of stopping to rest, they took turns driving so that they would reach the castle more quickly. Danny, naturally, was against the idea but nothing he said would dissuade his parents. He was beginning to think he was invisible - until he actually looked at his hand and saw that he wasn't. Sometimes it irritated the young hybrid when he was forced to admit that his parents just didn't listen to him. Their idea of dealing with a problem was either by locking it in the Fenton Stockades or putting it on a big spinning table and, on occasion, it made Danny want to yell and scream and pull out his hair in frustration. He knew it was partly his fault that they didn't listen to him; he had been lying to them for over a year and his grades were in the toilet, as far as they knew, for no reason. All they knew was that he had become a troublesome teenager who constantly missed curfew and didn't talk to them so he tried not to voice just how annoying it was when they didn't listen to him.

They passed several manor houses and as the sky grew darker they drove through nothing but unused forests and fields for miles, all of which, Danny wouldn't be surprised to hear, belonged to Vlad. So, with no speed limit to curb Jack's driving on private property, the scenery passed by very quickly and it even started to make Danny queasy.

"We're here!" Jack Fenton exclaimed rather redundantly as he pulled the RV to an abrupt stop outside the castle.

"Great," Danny mumbled with a sigh.

Jazz gave him a sympathetic glance before she clambered out with stiff muscles and let out a relieved breath, simply glad to have room to move now. She wasn't as reluctant to spend a fortnight in a castle, having stayed there before she knew it was more than comfortable and her only reservation about it was how difficult it was going to be for Danny. Vlad would pretty much leave her alone if she stayed out of his way, but not her brother.

There was plenty of light coming from the castle to illuminate the driveway and Jack practically flew up the steps to knock on the large, wooden doors.

"Ah, Jack," Vlad's smug tone sounded out after he'd opened the door, "Predictable as ever," the man said. This, of course, went straight over Jack's head as Vlad continued, "Won't you come in?" he asked, as though it was a horrible idea.

"Aww, thanks V-man, but we're on a schedule," Jack grinned.

"What a shame," Vlad replied emotionlessly as he brushed none existent dust from his shoulder, "Ah well, don't let me keep you."

"I would've thought you'd enjoy this conference as well, Vlad," Maddie spoke.

"Maddie, you know I'm retired from that...subject," the billionaire replied and Danny scoffed quietly.

"Ah, shucks, Vladdie, you were the best, I bet you still knew a thing or two..." Jack said, "You could still come with us."

"But then, who would care for the children?" Vlad turned back to him.

"...Good point," Jack frowned.

"I thought so," the white haired man breathed, "What about your schedule?" he asked when his 'friend' showed no signs of leaving.

"Oh, rights, thanks, V-man!" Jack grinned.

"Thanks for doing this, Vlad," Maddie said as Jack excitedly dragged her back to the RV."Bye kids," she smiled, "Be good," she added as Jack started the engine.

"See you, Vladdie!" the man in orange grinned as they drove off.

"...There goes my freedom," Danny grumbled, pulling his bag over his shoulder and picking up his small suitcase.

"Always so melodramatic, Daniel," Vlad smirked, holding the door with his hand, gesturing for them to go inside.

"Okay, stop right there, Plasmius," Danny sighed quickly, "I've been crammed in the back of the RV all day, I'm so not in the mood to deal with you and your stupid games."

"A little tetchy, are we?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.

"Grrr," Danny grumbled, his eyes glowing green for a split second.

"Why didn't you stop at a hotel?" the man asked, knowing the answer. He only wanted to annoy the boy.

"Why do you think?" Danny snapped back as he and his sister trudged through into the foyer with their cases.

"It's good to know that Jack's attitude grates on you sometimes too."

"It doesn't," the boy replied quickly.

"Of course," Vlad scoffed.

"Look," Jazz began in a calming tone, "We're both tired, can we just leave this until tomorrow?"

The older hybrid blinked for a moment in shock, but he shrugged it off quickly, "Follow me," he ordered, walking off.

He lead them, in silence, through the elegantly redecorated corridors, all lined with panelled wood from the floor up and the original stone visible from the top half. But to a very tired Danny, this grandeur wasn't even noticed. It wasn't long before Vlad pushed open the doors to two rooms, both side by side and both examples of the finest suites in the entire castle.

"Good night," Vlad said before teleporting away, leaving Danny and Jazz alone.

"...That was...pretty painless...kinda..." Danny frowned as he followed his sister into one of the rooms.

"Wow," Jazz blinked, stopping the doorway, "This is different from last time," she said.

Like the ground floor rooms of the castle, it seemed that that bedrooms too have been redecorated. The walls were a mix of stone and white wash which contrasted with the dark wood of the door, the four poster bed with its deep red curtains and the antique desk. Further into the room there was a large fireplace built into the wall with chairs and a sofa set around it, a wall of books to one side and a large, flat screen television to the other.

The two siblings sat up for an hour in the same room before Danny left for his own, hoping he'd be able to sleep.

* * *

A while later, Danny was forced to admit that he couldn't sleep at all. Not only was it late, he was tired and it had been hours since his ghost sense had warned him of any danger - and that had been long before they'd crossed the state line into Wisconsin. He couldn't deny that his bed was quite possibly the most comfortable one in the entire world but the mere thought that Vlad was sleeping under the same roof, albeit a very large roof, was enough to keep Danny awake for the entire fortnight ahead.

He threw off the quilt in frustration, wasted several more minutes tapping his fingers rhythmically on the mattress then he hauled himself from it with a deely irritated sigh. Danny knelt down by the bed and pulled his suitcase out from under it, then, with an intangible hand he reached through into it and under the clothes and miscellaneous things he'd left inside, he pulled put a small wooden box. For some reason, since he'd been given it a week ago, he couldn't seem to want to let it out of his sight even to the point where he'd brought it with him for only a two week trip away from home.

In his room at home, Danny had been hiding it under the floorboards; it wasn't the most high tech form of security but he couldn't afford to buy anything to hide it in and standard equipment would be useless against his own or anyone else's ghost powers, so there wasn't much point. It was times like this that Danny wished he was smarter so that he could make his own inventions.

To Danny, the shiny pocket watch seemed to represent everything that was, or could be good inside Vlad. Tucker had actually researched it and they'd found out that, if the self proclaimed techno-geek was correct, that it was worth around $5,000 if not more and the concept of owning something so valuable had come as a great shock to Danny. But he didn't want to sell it, he didn't think he could, although he didn't know where he'd ever go to actually use a pocket watch, Danny wanted to keep it because it was Vlad that had given it to him. Vlad had put thought and effort into getting him something meaningful, intended for his sixteenth birthday. He wasn't sure whether or not his mother or father had any family traditions like this one but when a person who was technically not a relative wanted to give you something that was clearly important to them then it was a very humbling thought.

Other than keeping it safe and hidden, Danny didn't know what else to do. Vlad hadn't mentioned it or the 'trip' into the past and it was likely that he never would, unless Danny chose to do so. In fact, Danny wouldn't be surprised if Vlad quickly went back to his old ways and started scheming and plotting again to save talking about it.

Without paying much attention, Danny flew through into his sister's room, still clutching the watch and be noticed that the room was, like his, in total darkness, clearly Jazz was trying to sleep, if not already asleep. But this didn't seem to register in Danny's mind.

"Jazz...Jazz...you awake?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Mmm...I am now..." his sister mumbled, slowly turning over and blinking her eyes open.

"Sorry," he muttered sheepishly, "...Couldn't sleep."

"Mmmm..." Jazz sighed, leaning back against the headboard, "What's wrong?" she asked and Danny stared at her. "...Right...yeah, sorry..." she muttered slowly in realisation.

"...I'm...just worried, Jazz...I don't know what to do and I can't sleep because I can't stop thinking."

"You can't do anything about it now but in the morning I think you should talk to Vlad without getting into a fight. You need to find out whether or not you want to change anything," Jazz told her brother, yawning tiredly. "I know you don't want to admit it, but you do feel sorry for him; for how he grew up."

"Yeah...but it's not like he wants any pity," Danny shook his head.

"...You remember when you and Vlad were talking...about the ecto-acne, and he said he made it seem like Tucker and Sam were dying when they really weren't..."

"He could've given the real thing, he could've been lying."

"I don't think he was," she insisted, "I think he was telling the truth. I think he's gotten so used to being alone and being 'the bad guy' that he's forgotten how to be anything else. I think it's sad."

"Yeah, maybe it is, but it doesn't change everything he's done."

"I know, Danny, but maybe you have to move past that and give him a chance to change otherwise who knows what'll happen."

"Who says he wants change?" Danny scoffed, "You know what he's like, I don't think anything I say'll make any difference."

"You can still try," Jazz told him, "Now please...I'm really tired, I know you're worried, but you need to sleep just as much as I do, staying up all night won't make it any easier."

"...Yeah...I know," he sighed, looking down at the pocket watch in his hand.

"...You brought it with you?" his sister questioned, glancing at it in he light from Danny's ghostly green eyes.

"...Night, Jazz," Danny simply said and flew back into his room to sleep.

* * *

A.N. Now, anyone who's read a lot of my stories will probably notice that I tend to ignore Danielle altogether. It's partly because I think the idea of Vlad going through with the cloning stuff is really creepy, but also, I like the idea of him and Danny being the only hybrids so instead of Danny being able to bond with Dani over a common enemy, he's left with Vlad as the only other one of his kind to understand him.

I've not read any complaints before but I'd like to know what people think, do you agree with me or are you a Dani fan? That being said, I won't be including her in this story, like all my others - I'm just curious.


	3. Something Amiss

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 3: Something Amiss**

* * *

Into the early hours of the morning, when even Danny had managed to fall asleep, Vlad was sitting in his lab pouring over his equations for ghost / human cloning. The secret he needed to make the complex formulae work still continued to elude him and his concentration wasn't at its best. Having seen Danny for only a few short minutes before he'd shown both children to their rooms for the night, Vlad was sure that he had been right; there was something very off with young Danny's ecto-signature, but because he hadn't 'gone ghost' yet, Vlad had yet to assess the extent of the damage. He wasn't sure how best to go about the subject. If he outright asked the boy then he'd have to explain everything about it since Danny knew next to nothing about the specifics of ghost powers and it would be very time consuming, if he was believed at all. Whereas if Vlad keep it secret he'd have to wait until Danny morphed into his ghost half and he didn't know when that would be.

There could be a very simple explanation to what he was sensing and that could be that Danny was simply maturing but Vlad didn't want to take any chances. He hadn't been able to observe his own ecto-signature change when he'd been young because he'd been more or less, ignorant of his altered hybrid physiology so he didn't know what to expect. It was only as he'd become increasingly wealthy that he'd begun to monitor his powers with any accuracy and by then he'd matured as much as he was going to; Vlad's ecto-signature was fully formed and wasn't going to change or evolve an further, but Danny's still could and probably would.

Setting aside the equations, Vlad pulled up another screen which showed the presence of three ghosts in the whole castle - himself, Daniel and the Dairy King who generally kept to himself and stayed out if the way from Vlad and his staff. His security system was state of the art, because Vlad had designed and built it himself a few months ago, he knew it was trustworthy. The blip that showed his own powers, even in his human form, was clearly very stable and it was the largest of the three showing that he was the most powerful. The Dairy King's power wasn't worth mentioning while Danny's were very curious indeed. The small green dot was flickering curiously on the monitor and Vlad didn't know why. Using the security cameras, which were installed secretly in every room, Vlad learned that Danny was actually sleeping so it wasn't because the boy was overtaxing his powers. There genuinely was something amiss and all of his technological gadgetry and intellect couldn't explain why.

"What's wrong with you, Daniel?" he breathed quietly. Like many people who lived alone for much of their lives, Vlad, without thinking, tended to voice his thoughts aloud and he didn't even realise it half of the time and, as usual, hours and minutes passed him by in lonely silence.

* * *

Shortly after sunrise, Danny was sleeping peacefully until there was a relentless knocking at his door that refused to go away. At first, the young hybrid thought that it was a ghost, as long habit had taught him that ghosts generally liked to disturb him when he wanted to sleep. But when his ghost sense failed to alert him to any danger, he slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head from the pillow.

"...Hmmm..." Danny breathed, "Yeah?" he called out, rubbing his eyes as he heard the door open.

A young woman entered the room, she was dressed smartly all in black and looked as thou she was used to being awake first thing in the morning, unlike Danny who was yawning. "...Who're you?" he asked, tiredly.

"I'm Amelia, your wake up call," she answered happily.

"It's like...seven o'clock," Danny moaned when he saw the bedside clock.

"Mr Masters is waiting for you in the dining room," Amelia told him.

"...Now?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Yes," she smiled, trying not to laugh, "He said if you don't come down you won't get any food for the rest of the day."

"Jerk," he muttered, "Not you," he added quickly, "...And you can tell him I said that."

"On your head be it," she shrugged with a laugh, "Anyway, you've got fifteen minutes."

"Argh!" Danny sighed, "Fine, tell his highness I'm coming," he said and she nodded before leaving the room.

Muttering obscenities about Vlad the entire time, Danny stumbled to the en suite bathroom and made sure to slam things around as though getting back at the older hybrid by making a lot of noise. It was childish, but he was a child so he didn't care.

Having never actually been in the 'dining room' Danny had little idea of where it was but luckily Vlad employed a lot of people so they were able to direct him. He didn't think that one man needed so many people looking after his home, but this was a castle and Vlad liked flaunting his wealth even when there was no one around to see it. Danny passed a lot of people cleaning which was no doubt a monumental task in a place this size and probably took up most of their time. He didn't envy them their work but they didn't seem unhappy, none of them were muttering under their breath like him that was for sure.

He soon found that the dining room was just as grand and ostentatious as the rest of the castle with a wooden floor and red curtains. The dark wooden table was long and set for only three people with an abundance of crockery and cutlery that Danny only expected to find in a five star hotel, he didn't think people actually used set ups like this for the every day. The fireplace was huge and there were unlit candles scattered around the room. It was a very light space with a white ceiling covered in intricately carved, dark wood paneling and the large windows letting in the morning sun.

"Good morning, Daniel, did you sleep well?" Vlad asked sometime during Danny's observation of the room.

"Erm...fine...I guess..." Danny blinked. He noticed now that he was still standing in the doorway, that he'd been too much in awe of the room and now he was further stunned by Vlad's question. His insults had been long forgotten in his shock and at being asked something so ordinary by his enemy.

Vlad was sat at the head of the table and for the first time now, Danny saw that Jazz was of course already awake and sitting at Vlad left hand side. She probably hadn't even needed the 'wake up call' and if he had to guess, he'd say that she'd been in the library or something and she seemed to have already gotten over the shock of their surroundings as she glanced across at him. She had stayed here once before so Danny supposed she was as used to it as she was going to get. Even when they'd stayed for the reunion hadn't had this effect on him, probably because, back then, the castle had only been decorated with gaudy green and gold.

As Danny sat down, reluctantly on Vlad's right hand side - the only other place to have been set with plates, a man dressed smartly in black with a white apron, set a plate of food down for him and he had to admit that it was the best breakfast he'd ever seen. The plate was filled with perfectly cooked eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and hash browns with toast on the side. He could set aside his awkwardness for a moment to dig into the food without much restraint since he didn't normally get given such a meal. If Danny had his way he'd eat this every day but he never got the time to do so, he was lucky to get a piece of toast before school because he tended to get up late due to fighting ghosts.

He heard Vlad cough lightly as though trying to remind him of his table manners but Danny ignored him, it was the only way he could sit there and not want to hide away, buried under a mountain of awkwardness.

"Daniel," Vlad scowled a second later but was again, ignored.

"If that's all sir?" the man asked, sensing the tension, and Vlad nodded.

"Yes, that's all," he said and the man left without Danny even learning his name.

Once the door clicked firmly shut, Vlad set down his cutlery and sighed, "I can see I'm going to have to teach you some table manners," he said, "You really are just as bad as your father. At least Jasmine has some restraint."

"Jazz isn't sitting at the same table as her arch enemy," Danny grumbled, swallowing his food and them letting out a deep sigh. "Okay, this is just weird," he exclaimed, "What's going on? What are you up to? Who are you and where's the real Plasmius?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow and stared at Danny in a mix of amusement and exasperation. He'd expected this kind of reaction from the boy and in truth it was somewhat entertaining, but he knew that they would probably end up coming to blows and that thought made him tired before they'd even begun to fight. "There is nothing 'going on', I am not 'up to' anything except trying to eat my breakfast," he said to Danny.

"Sure, 'cos you eat breakfast with your enemy all the time, it's totally normal," Danny snorted.

"I do wish you'd drop your ridiculous notions of 'enemies', Daniel, it really is very childish," Vlad sighed, picking up his glass.

"Says the man who's been holding a grudge for over twenty years," the young half ghost muttered.

"Danny," Jazz hissed, meeting her brother's eyes, trying to silently dissuade him from continuing, forgetting that Vlad would hear her warning.

"What?!" Danny ground out, glaring back at Jazz in frustration.

Vlad himself remained silent and he set down his glass without even having drank from it. He slowly turned his attention to Danny and he gave a rueful smile. "You're right," he said , "You're right, of course."

"...I'm...huh?" Danny blinked, sharing a look with his equally stunned sister.

"But I've told you before...I have my reasons."

"Yeah, and I have my reasons why we're 'enemies'," the boy retaliated, "All of them - your fault."

"Why do you still hate our dad?" Jazz asked with a curious calmness, "You don't hate your ghost powers and you know that it was an accident. From what Clockwork showed us you didn't leave the hospital wanting to hurt him; you didn't like him, but you didn't want to kill him. There's a big difference."

"Quite correct," Vlad said, "But it's a little early for any introspection," he added.

"So, if I asked you late at night, you'd answer me?" she frowned.

"Probably not."

"Then you may as well just say you don't want to talk about it," Danny murmured.

"I don't want to talk about it; everyone has secrets they'd rather keep to themselves. You two more than most should understand that," Vlad told them, "Now, both of you, eat your breakfast."

"You can't tell me what to do," the young hybrid grumbled back despite the fact that he'd already eaten about half of his food.

"For the next two weeks, I can," the man narrowed his eyes, "And I expect you to listen."

"Huh," Danny couldn't help but scoff, "Yeah, right."

It was only a minute later that he saw he was the only one with a fry up breakfast; his sister was eating what looked like her favourite healthy porridge and Vlad had something entirely different that looked very fancy and there was fruit on the table as well. So Vlad knew their favourite breakfast foods, that was creepy, but when wasn't Vlad being creepy - he did spy on them after all.

"And I expect you to he on your best behaviour..."

"Not gonna happen," Danny mumbled. The strangeness of sitting at the table eating breakfast with Vlad combined with the man's sudden attitude change and everything else he'd learned about the older hybrid, Danny was confused. He wanted things to change but he wasn't sure how he wanted them to or how go about changing them.

"Daniel..." Vlad began.

"Just cut it out! I don't even want to be here, I just want you to leave me alone!" Danny yelled, his anger getting the better of him.

His voice echoed around the room several times and almost the moment he'd spoken, Danny regretted it. After everything Clockwork had shown him, after all the times he'd told himself that he was supposed to be the forgiving one, to go and take out his confusion and his anger out on Vlad, who'd, as yet done nothing against him, wasn't the best thing he could've done.

As Danny scolded himself, Vlad seemed to waver for a moment between anger and despair. He had known to expect this from the boy so he was by no means, surprised, but this was why he had thought it best to keep his distance, remaining as enemies. It was easier that way, he knew how to act with an enemy and so did Daniel. At least as an adversary he was able to teach the boy without any complications and it meant that he could keep a close eye on him without worrying about morals or scruples. It was really, the only way he knew how to be and clearly he had failed in his attempts to be civil with Daniel, as the boy's outburst showed. He was too deep, in Danny's opinion, as an enemy, an evil man, that he had little chance of gaining any sort of respect. Even though his attempt at civility was encouraged by ulterior motives, those motives were not malevolent as Danny would think.

Vlad wanted to make sure that he remained close to Danny so that he could discover just what was wrong with his ecto-signature and what it would mean for the boy. It was a better way than relying on his equipment to spy on him but ultimately, it seemed that it was his only option. Instead of letting out his temper in one of his characteristic outbursts of fury, he let out a deep sigh.

"Very well," Vlad replied stoically. He gracefully pushed his chair back, dropped the napkin from his lap onto the table and stood up. "I have work to do in the city and I expect my castle to be undamaged when I return," he spoke quickly, walking across the room to the door.

"...Vlad...I..." Danny began apologetically, but Vlad didn't make any indication that he was listening.

"Do what you want, but if a room is locked I'll ask that you respect my privacy. Do not enter my lab. Don't even think about touching any of my cars, if you want to go into the city have one of the staff drive you there. Don't use your powers around them and don't pester them; I'll remind you that they are human and know nothing about ghosts," the older hybrid continued as he opened the door, "Good day," he finished, finally leaving the room.

"...What was that?" Danny furrowed his brow, "I was expecting...I dunno...getting thrown through a wall, or something...not...that..."

"Yeah, it was strange," Jazz admitted, "...But not surprising."

"How'd you figure?"

"Well, he was trying to be nice...I think..." she frowned.

"I know, I know, it was just...weird, and I know I shouldn't have yelled but it's not like he's not used to yelling back at me," Danny said quickly without a breath. "What should I do, Jazz?" he asked.

"I don't know, Danny," she sighed, "And I don't think he knows either."

"Stupid Clockwork," the young hybrid mumbled, "This is all his fault," he grumbled, pushing his plate aside.

"He did the right thing, now we have to...once we figure out what it is," his sister smiled at him kindly.

"And how are 'we' going to do that?"

"By not getting angry, for a start."

"Easy for you to say," Danny replied, "Why do I feel like I've done something wrong? Argh, this whole thing is messed up!"

"Yeah, it is, and I know Vlad's done a lot of bad things, but why don't we just try and keep it neutral for a while and see how things go. If he gets outta line then I'll help you take him out," she said.

"...Okay..." he nodded.

"And we are in a castle, how about we go have some fun?" Jazz grinned.

"I dunno, Vlad's an old guy, I don't think he'll have anything I think is fun in here," Danny shrugged.

"Oh, come on, he's wanted you to 'join' him since he met you, right? You don't think he'd plan ahead just in case you said 'yes' and stock up on stuff that you'd want?"

"That...does sound like something he'd do," the young hybrid frowned, "The creeper."

"Then let's go, there's like two hundred rooms here. - we've got a lot of ground to cover and you can't use your powers, so we'll have to look the old fashioned way. It could take all day."

"I can use my powers, just so long as no one else is around...I'm not doing what Vlad said I just don't wanna have to explain it to someone if they see me," he added quickly.

"Uh-huh," Jazz nodded, standing up, "Race you to the top floor."

"You're on!" Danny laughed and they made a mad rush for the door and then they ran side by side up the grand staircase with its carved wooden banisters and startled the staff who were dusting in a portrait filled, gallery-like corridor on the second floor.

* * *

A.N. I'm glad I've had such a positive response for the story so far. I've decided to keep the chapters relatively small - just over 3,000 words each since it's easier for me to write and I can get them done much more quickly.

Now, if anyone has any ideas as to what they want to happen in the story, let me know. Just for an example, I had an idea that I could have Vlad go to see a play or something and he drags Danny along as well, Jazz I think would go willingly and of course, and Vlad would have his own private box.


	4. The Castle's Secrets

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 4: The Castle's Secrets**

* * *

Once the two teens had practically dragged themselves up the last flight of stairs they collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. Both were too tired now to notice that they'd come to a small hallway at the top of the tower with only a few doors to choose from. It was much less grand than the rest of the castle and seemed to have been neglected for years; the stone work was dusty, the paint was cracked and there were cobwebs hanging from the metal torch holders.

"...Okay..." Danny panted, "...So...who won..."

"I don't...know...I think...I did..." Jazz breathed heavily back.

"You would...say that..." her brother snorted, "Stupid fruitloop...who needs...this many floors...anyway..."

"It is...a...castle," she reminded him.

"And...he chose to live in it...And...this was your dumb idea...oh...'race ya to the top floor'...yeah...that was genius...Maybe climbing to the top of the highest tower thing wasn't the best idea..."

"Yeah...well, you agreed."

"You're supposed to...be the smart one...not me...'D' student...remember..."

"I was trying to waste some time..."

"How long...d'we kill?"

"About fifteen minutes," Jazz answered, beginning to get her breath back as she looked at her watch.

"That's all?!"

"Yep," she said, pushing herself up from the floor.

"Well...now we're up here...what'd we do?" Danny frowned, looking around slowly.

"I guess we go back down, there's nothing up here."

"We don't know that yet," he shrugged and slowly stood up, "Wow...this is definitely a fixer-upper," he frowned, "Think the decorators missed a spot?"

"No joke," Jazz said.

"Let's see what's behind door number one," Danny smiled and walked up to the first door.

It opened with a loud 'creak' from its hinges and Danny peered inside, but it was in total darkness and he walked cautiously inside. The thick curtains were closed which was blocking the morning light so when he threw them open, the room was bathed in sunlight for the first time in years. Jazz walked in after him and they saw that, aside from some antiquated paintings stacked against the walls, there was literally nothing else there.

"Nothing," he scowled, "That's a let down."

"This high up in the place it's not like we're going to find anything interesting," Jazz said.

"I know, but we may as well look, I mean, we took the stairs!" Danny waved his hands in emphasis. "Next time we fly, I don't care what Plasmius says, I'm so not walking down all those stairs."

The second room wasn't much different from the first and Danny ended up slamming the door shut in frustration. "Nothing again," Danny scowled, "I guess it'd be too easy for Vlad to hide all his secret stuff in his attic," he sighed walking to the third and final door. It was up a small flight of stairs with narrow walls and Danny glared at the stone steps in disapproval before he reached the door. "Third time's the charm," he said, reaching out to push down the handle.

Inside it was dark again so he ignited his hand in green ectoplasm and stood in the doorway as the room and it's furnishings were revealed. "...Wow..." Danny breathed, "It's like a jumble sale."

This room was much larger than the last two and it was simply filled with objects. There was furniture of every size and shape, most of which was covered with dusty white sheets as though they'd been brought in when Vlad moved in and simply been left to rot in there. Danny could see cardboard boxes and old wooden trunks stacked high along with some rolled up carpets and old books. The purlins and rafters were visible above the chaotic room giving it a closed in, yet homely feel.

"I don't know if we should go in here, Danny," Jazz said suddenly.

"Hey, he only said stay outta any looked rooms and this wasn't locked," he shrugged.

"Probably because no one ever comes up here, I mean, look how dusty it is," she said waving a hand in front of her face to waft away the heavy layer of dust in the air, "It probably hasn't been cleaned since Vlad moved here, like the others."

"Yeah, but look at this all stuff," Danny grinned, "Come on, let's take a look,"

"With a castle this big, it stands to reason that if Vlad took the time to put it all up here then he doesn't want anyone to see it," his sister said quickly.

"Then he should've locked it," Danny scoffed, walking into the room, ignoring Jazz's protests. "Besides, you went in the other rooms," he added.

"There was nothing in them," she pointed out.

"So what? It's not like he's here to stop us," he replied as he went across to the windows and pulled open the thick curtains to let in the light.

Jazz sighed and reluctantly navigated her way around the plethora of miscellanea, making her way over to her brother as he spoke again. "I don't see why he wouldn't want to use these rooms," Danny said, "The view's are great," he added, leaning on the window ledge and staring out at the lush landscape that stretched on for miles.

"Probably because there's amazing views from every room here, some of which aren't up twenty flights of stairs," Jazz raised an eyebrow.

"Good point," he smirked pushing himself back from the ledge and walking around the room with a spring in his step. "Man, look at all this...you could fill another house with it all," Danny rolled his eyes. "I don't see why he'd leave all this stuff up here, there's nothing wrong with any of it," he said.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to look at it, or something" Jazz suggested.

"Then why wouldn't he just get rid of it?"

"Sentimental reasons, maybe."

"Sentimental...Vlad...really?" Danny scoffed, "Yeah right, what would..." he muttered before he remembered something that Clockwork had shown him.

He remembered that Vlad had kept the photograph of him and his family that had been taken when Danny himself had been a young baby and his parents had just made the older hybrid godfather to their children. Even after so many years, Vlad still had it hidden away. It was things like that which gave Danny hope because even if Vlad hadn't made any effort to get to know them when they'd been growing up, at least he'd thought about them a little. It wasn't much, but in Vlad's case it meant a great deal.

"Danny?" Jazz questioned when he failed to finish his sentence.

"Mmm?" he hummed, blinking back to reality.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm fine," Danny shook his head and started looking around again.

After a minute, he reached out and pulled off a large white sheet from a piece of furniture to reveal an old wooden writing desk. The sliding lid was shut and Danny wasted no time in lifting it up to reveal a stash of papers, pens, pencils and small books. He picked up some of the papers and examined them but soon frowned in disappointment."It's all...in Russian," he told her, putting down the papers.

"That's not really surprising," Jazz said, coming to stand by his side.

"Hey...does this look kinda familiar to you?" Danny suddenly ran his hand along the desk for a minute before turning to her.

"What d'you mean?" she asked curiously.

"I think I've seen it somewhere before."

"Not likely, it doesn't look like it's been moved in years."

"Yeah...I guess..." he furrowed his brow, not entirely convinced. He continued to route through the contents of the desk and eventually he found a small silver photo frame which was buried under a stack of papers. "Look," Danny said, raising the small frame for her to see.

It was a dusty, worn photograph of a young man - a young Vlad, with his father standing behind him, a possessive hand resting on the boy's shoulder and a cold expression on his pale face. The young Vlad had a resigned yet mournful acceptance in his blue eyes and though it looked as though he was trying to move away from his father, the man's hand seemed strong enough to drag him back, at least for the time it took to capture the image.

"So...this was Vlad's," Danny said, "I did see it...in his memories when Clockwork showed us."

"Looks like," Jazz nodded, taking the photo frame from her brother's hand. "I can see why he'd keep this up here," she said, putting the object back on the desk.

Without another word, Danny walked away from the desk and continued to move objects or kneel down to get a better look at a certain one, and he decided on one of the many clusters of boxes and trunks to investigate next. It was full of books, papers, old clothes and he grinned when he came across some photo albums. He uncovered one of them from the mess they were buried with and wiped the dust from it before opening it.

"Hey, check this out," Danny chuckled, "Plasmius' college days," he pointed to a page. "What a dork," the young hybrid muttered.

Jazz moved slowly across to her brother who was pouring eagerly through the old album. There was pictures of Vlad with their parents among many others, but Jazz felt that this was a gross invasion of privacy. Of Vlad's privacy. She understood that the older hybrid was uncomfortable enough with them having seen so much of his past already and she didn't want to push their luck if he found out they'd gone looking around his things and discovered even more about him.

"Come on, I think we should go," she said quickly, turning to leave the room.

"What?" Danny exclaimed, "No way, I'm not even half way through this thing."

"Danny," she sighed.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he frowned putting down the album reluctantly, "I still say we should stick around," he muttered, walking over to his sister at the door.

"I don't want to go snooping around stuff that Vlad obviously wanted to hide away," she said.

"Maybe he's just forgot about it all," Danny shrugged.

"And it just so happens to be stuff from his childhood and from his college days; two times in his life that we both understand he'd want to hide away?

He let out a frustrated breath and stared up at her, "Don't you get tired of being right all the time?" he asked.

"Nope," she smiled.

"You know, he's not gonna appreciate you saying all that," Danny told her as she closed the door behind them.

"He's not gonna know," Jazz said, "'Cos we're not gonna tell him we've been up here."

"We're gonna lie?" he smirked, "I dunno, Jazz, this is Plasmius we're talking about and as much as I hate to admit it, he's a clever dude, he'll probably know when we're lying."

"We'll cross that bridge when - if - we come to it. I mean, you do remember what his reaction was when he found out that Clockwork had shown us his past, right?"

"How could I forget?" Danny scoffed, subconsciously rubbing his neck where Vlad had almost choked him.

"And if he finds out that you were looking around in there I think it'll be worse than that..."

"You went in there too," he muttered.

"And making him angry doesn't fit in with the whole 'neutral' plan, so..."

"Alright, I get it," Danny held up his hands, "Never mention it again, got it."

"Okay," Jazz nodded, "Let's get outta here," she said, leading the way back down the stairs.

"You do know I could fly us down, right?"

"What if someone sees us?"

"All the way up here?" Danny rolled his eyes, "I don't think so, I could just take us down a few floors, it's better than walking the whole way."

"Good point," she nodded, "Okay then, just a few floors though."

"You're so pushy," he smiled and so did Jazz.

Danny took them down three floors and, after naming sure that there was no one in the corridor to see them appear, he dropped his invisibility and the two siblings simply emerged from nothing. "We could've gone further down," he noted.

"Don't you want to look around some more?" she asked.

"Thought you said you didn't want to snoop."

"In the attic, no, we don't know what's in the rest of this place yet," Jazz gave him a smile.

"There's the no-good teenage attitude I was looking for," Danny laughed, "Alright, pick a door," he said looking around the long, wide corridor. There were door on either side and paintings and antique wall lamps as well.

"That one," Jazz pointed randomly to one of the wooden doors which Danny preceded to open.

"Whoa...Jazz...you're not gonna believe this..." he breathed.

"What?"

"This is either the coolest room in the place...or it's the weirdest," he said, moving into the room to let her follow him.

"An armoury?" Jazz raised an incredulous eyebrow as she surveyed the large room, "...Well...we are in a castle."

"Yeah, but how many people actually own this stuff?" Danny whispered walking across the dark wooden floor, spinning around to look in each direction.

"Vlad does, for one," Jazz smiled.

"Rich fruitloop," he shook his head and walked around.

There were displays of archaic European weaponry and armour, some was hanging on the walls while others had been laid out on tables and none of it was behind glass like one would expect from a museum. Danny couldn't deny that he liked this room. He liked the different types of swords and he wanted to learn how to use them, but from what Clockwork had shown him, Vlad wouldn't be a good teacher if he was like his father.

Just as he was examining a broadsword, his eyes were suddenly drawn away from the monochromatic silver to a mahogany table which held more colour than the rest of the room combined. There was at least a dozen photographs on display there and Danny couldn't help but float over to get a better look. Each image was filled with colour and life with people sliming and laughing to each other. Many of the people wore colourfully patterned cloth over one shoulder with beads around their necks, wrists and ankles and they stood on a large open landscape with greenery and a dusty air. But what surprised Danny the most was that among the smiling natives, was Vlad. The man, looking around ten years younger, was on many of the photos looking for all the world like he belonged there.

"Where is that? Is it...Africa? He went to Africa?" Danny blinked, staring down at the photos. "Don't rich people usually go to...I don't know...rich people places like Vegas or something?"

Along with the display of images there was a large bow, which compared to much of the room's contents, appeared relatively new. It was displayed on the wall with arrows beside it and a large, sharp spear with colourful strings tied around it to one side. There was also the hide of a large baboon at the feet of the table on which stood the photos and a further array of arrows and beaded jewellery. This large display was much more personal than the rest of the room, which despite the openness, had a museum-like feel to it, unlike this one.

"I thought so," Jazz said quietly, "But apparently not."

"It's pretty cool," Danny remarked before he could stop himself, "But it's hard to imagine Vlad living with an African tribe," he added.

"If he came back with all this, they must've got along," she said curiously regarding the large, varied display.

"Or he stole it," her brother said.

"Why would he steal any of this? It's not valuable, not compared to everything else he owns. And that doesn't explain the photographs, do those people look angry - like they've been robbed - to you?"

"He could've overshadowed them."

"What for? To take a few photos, steal a few tribal weapons and a baboon skin?"

"...Yeah..." Danny sighed, "...It's a working theory...Why couldn't Clockwork have shown us this?!" he moaned.

"You could ask Vlad about it," Jazz suggested.

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it?" Danny lamented, "Ask mom and dad about Vlad being our godfather, ask Vlad about his trip to Africa..."

"Well, how else are you gonna learn anything about it?"

"That...sounded like something Vlad'd say..." he muttered, suddenly feeling a cold chill run down his spine. He shivered heavily for a moment and turned to see that the windows were closed so there wasn't a draught coming in. He crossed his arms around himself and he swore he could feel his teeth chattering before the cold feeling went away and he felt normal again.

"You okay?" Jazz asked with a frown.

"Fine," he said, "I just...got a bit cold, is all."

"It's not cold in here," she said.

"I know," he furrowed his brow, "...Weird, anyway I'm..."

"You shivered," Jazz stated, "Really shivered."

"Yeah, now I'm fine, so come on," Danny shrugged, "There's like a billion more rooms in this place."

"Okay," she nodded uncertainly, "Okay, but if you're not feeling well..."

"Look at me, I'm fine!" Danny insisted, "It was just a cold chill," he said and she sighed before giving him a small smile.

"Lead the way," she said, gesturing to the door.

* * *

*1 - If you look up a picture of Vlad's castle, it actually has one really tall tower in the middle along with some smaller turrets around it. Lol. Bet you thought I had no idea what I was talking about, didn't ya?


	5. Vlad's no Superman

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 5: Vlad's no Superman**

* * *

Vlad sat in his office at his desk, strumming his fingers lightly in his boredom as he stared at the papers and folders strewn across the surface of the desk. Those papers were from a meeting he'd attended months ago and were now of little use to him, but they had been the first ones he'd seen on rummaging around looking for something to do. On simply getting to his office, Vlad was aware that his driving had hardly been safety conscious but there were more important things he had to think about than driving; after all, if there was an accident he'd probably come out of it unscathed. What was more important was; how was he going to get through the next two weeks without either going mad or tearing Danny limb from limb as the boy continued to test his limits? It was a difficult balancing act and it sapping most of Vlad strength just to think about it.

He'd lied to Danny earlier of course, in fact he had no work to do at all. Vlad had kept his schedule all but empty for the two weeks that Danny and Jazz were to stay at his castle, although to do what exactly, he wasn't quite sure. He couldn't stay and play 'happy families' with the children. If he hadn't left when he had, Vlad had a strong suspicion that he would've exploded in anger; he was fully aware that he had certain issues with his temper, for which he blamed his father.

As the years had passed, Vlad thought his memories of childhood had been long forgotten and buried. He'd thought that their effects had faded with time and that he was free from their influence and from his father. He was not a small, weak child and no one had the power to cross him anymore and yet the thought that Daniel knew everything was more than he could bear. It was difficult to even look the boy in the eye now let alone know how to act. Part of him wanted to simply fall back on what he knew and continue his plans - to antagonise Daniel in an attempt to train him and hopefully wait until the boy realised that fact when he would one day join Vlad. But that day was a long way away. Danny was no where near to realising his plan and Vlad himself forgot about it sometimes - compared to his 'build up his business empire' plans and his 'revenge on Jack' plans, his 'teaching Danny' plans were relatively new and he had difficulty in keeping them all balanced in his mind.

"Why do you have to make things so complicated, Daniel?" Vlad sighed.

In his mind it was Daniel's fault that things felt so out of balance - things had been much more simple before he'd known of Danny Phantom's existence. He'd been on his was to finally achieving his revenge and fate had decided to kick him down before he could enjoy his victory. It wasn't fair. Didn't he deserve his revenge after twenty long years? But in truth, Vlad had made every little progress towards actually getting that revenge since he'd met Danny. Somewhere along the way, without even realising it, his thoughts had moved from revenge on Jack to his interest in the young hybrid. It was only natural, Danny was the only other half ghost in existence and he needed guidance. Vlad hadn't had any guidance whatsoever and he couldn't count the number of times he'd gone on an angry rampage with his powers, screaming out when he couldn't control himself or when he couldn't understand why he'd been dealt such a cursed hand.

But not once had Vlad seen Danny display that same anger in the way that he had - instead the boy used his powers for 'good.' Did that made him the better man, so to speak? He supposed that Danny only acted as he did because he'd been so influenced by 'hero' media and so on, that his teenage mind hadn't had time to form it's own world-weary personality, unlike Vlad who had been old enough to understand the world more fully when he'd developed his powers. Danny's hero complex was unlikely to wane with time having contracted it so young but Vlad still hoped that he'd see the error of his ways - that he'd understand that the word was not black and white and that it wasn't his responsibility to save everyone, every hour of every day. Sooner or later, Vlad knew that something had to give and Danny would end up going out of his mind or getting seriously hurt - and not because of something Vlad did.

But he also knew that he couldn't hide away in his office for two weeks and that he'd have to decide on which course of action to take; the one he'd been travelling down for twenty years by his own design, or the one which Clockwork was trying to force on him for reasons that he still didn't understand. Vlad didn't appreciate the Time Master's interference and he liked the secrecy even less but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He knew to pick his battles and he generally didn't fight unless the odds were in his favour - against the Master of Time, even Vlad Plasmius was forced to admit that he was at a disadvantage.

He wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed, but Vlad grew bored of staring at his office walls and usually when he looked out at the bustling city from his floor to ceiling high windows, time could pass him by and Vlad could enjoy the knowledge that he was standing on the top of the world. But now he grew weary of it remarkably quickly and it wasn't long before he was marching away from the windows, packing away his files and whirling out of the building as fast as he could without using his ghost powers. He simply couldn't concentrate on work and the castle was certainly large enough to allow him some privacy even with Daniel and his sister there. Until he could clear his head and decide on a plan of action, Vlad thought it best to leave the children to their own devices and hopefully, they'd do the same.

Vlad soon found himself back at his castle, walking through the ground floor on his route to the sitting room and he opened the door, not expecting to find anyone within, so he was more than a little surprised to find the two Fenton siblings there; he'd expected the children to keep to their rooms. He opened his mouth to speak but, for the first time in years, Vlad found that words failed him and he hadn't the faintest idea of what he could say.

Danny had turned around on the sofa and sat up on his knees to see just who it was that had opened the door and he'd been just as surprised as Vlad. He'd thought the man had said that he had 'work' to do and he'd barely been gone for three hours, during which time Danny and Jazz had settled down to watch television. The young hybrid watched as Vlad's eyes flickered from him to his sister and he seemed to decide on staying silent. Vlad then stepped back and closed the door, knowing that it was for the best.

"...Great..." Danny sighed, slouching further onto the sofa, "That was more awkward than this morning."

"Well, I hate to say it, but that was your fault," Jazz told him sadly.

"Thanks, Jazz," he replied dryly.

"You should talk to him," she said suddenly and without reservation.

"Talking may solve every problem in 'psychology land' but it's not the best idea when a guy can blast people through buildings if someone, namely me, says the wrong thing," Danny emphasised.

"So, you're fine with living like this for two weeks? You know it'll only get worse and Vlad won't make any move towards trying to get along after what happened this morning. I'm surprised he even tried."

"Yeah, me too, that was the problem," he sighed, "I was too surprised to think straight. I can't help it; every time I see him I just can't help but think he's up to something. It's his fault anyway. He usually is up to something."

"Well, unless you talk to him, I think he will be pretty soon," Jazz shook her head, "He's too confused. When people get confused they fall back on what they know - Vlad knows how to be 'evil' so that's what he'll do. He doesn't know how to deal with people knowing about his past when he was vulnerable."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Then you'll talk to him?"

"Do I look like I have a death wish?" Danny scoffed back.

"If you don't, you'll be ignoring everything Clockwork showed us."

"Gah! Okay, I know, okay, I get it!"

"Go on then," Jazz smirked when Danny made no move to go after Vlad.

"What?"

"Go talk to him," she encouraged him.

"...You mean now?"

"No, I mean after he decides to start a fight - of course now!" Jazz rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but if I die you have to avenge me," Danny muttered as he shuffled, reluctantly, out of the room.

"Good luck," his sister gave him a cheery wave.

"Know it all," he replied, closing the door behind him. Once he was alone in the corridor, Danny was far less sure of himself, he didn't want to agitate Vlad by saying something wrong and thereby make outlook for the next two weeks even worse even more gloomy than it already was. But that wouldn't be a problem if Danny couldn't even find Vlad in the first place. The castle was huge and he didn't want to use his powers in case any of the staff were nearby and Vlad found out, which again, would make the man angry with him.

Danny was forced to resort to asking the people he passed if they had seen Vlad and luckily, he was informed that the older hybrid had gone out into the garden.

"Where'd he go?" he sighed, "Argh...this is gonna take ages," he groaned, staring out at the huge expanse of land which passed as Vlad's 'garden.' There was no doubt that it was a very impressive garden but it was far too big. "Hey, erm...did Vlad go this this way?" Danny nervously asked a man who was diligently trimming the hedges.

"Try down by the gazebo," the man answered, "That way," he added, gesturing left when Danny blinked uncertainly.

"...Thanks," he said, running off down the pathway.

The gazebo was one of a very grand, victorian style with narrow, spiralling pillars and a white, arched roof. It was set a few steps above beds of colourful flowers and a water feature that lead from a small stream further into the grounds. Vlad was staring out at this calming scene, sitting on the steps of the gazebo, his suit jacket discarded and folded on one of the benches under the arched roof.

"What do you want, Daniel?" Vlad asked, making Danny jump.

"You...you saw me, huh?" he asked unnecessarily.

"Not quite," the older hybrid shrugged but he didn't elaborate. He didn't think it prudent to inform Danny that he could literally sense the boy's ecto-signature from miles away so he didn't have to 'see' Danny to know that he was there.

"Oh..." Danny breathed.

"If I am 'leaving you alone', isn't it only right that you do the same?"

"Yeah, about that...look, I shouldn't have...I was just..." the young hybrid tried to explain shakily, "...I'm sorry, okay..." he said.

"Are you saying that because your sister encouraged you to say it or because you pity the young me?" Vlad asked insightfully.

"Hey, I..." Danny began to exclaim, but he stopped himself. He realised that Vlad knew him better than he thought - better than he would've liked actually. On the one hand it was creepily scary but on the other it was also impressive. Vlad knew practically everything about Danny and yet it took Clockwork's intervention for Danny to learn even the simplest things about Vlad. Jazz had said he should talk to Vlad and he did pity Vlad for the way he grew up, but were those the only reasons he'd apologised?

"Well...I guess at first..." Danny said in a much more calm manner, "...It was both..."

Vlad narrowed his eyes at Danny as he spoke but despite his anger at being pitied by a teenager, he couldn't suppress the ounce of pride he felt. The boy had learned something useful from this after all; he had learned the benefits of thinking before he acted and he was beginning to put it into practice. Vlad feared that Danny would never learn to think first and it was one thing he'd tried to correct. Evidently, Clockwork had succeeded where he had so far failed - another reason to despise the Time Master. He had taken away Vlad's victory.

"I've told you before; I don't want or require your pity," he told the younger hybrid.

"It doesn't work that way," Danny replied. "...Look, we both know that me and Jazz don't need a 'babysitter', I could just fly us both home right now..."

"Go ahead," Vlad shrugged elegantly.

"But..." Danny ground out, trying to ignore Vlad's stoic comment, "I'm not going to."

"And you felt the need to tell me so...because?"

"Because then I'd be ignoring everything Clockwork told me and I wouldn't be changing anything."

"You'd be better off ignoring it all," Vlad said.

"I don't think so," Danny replied quickly.

"That wasn't a suggestion, boy," the older hybrid glared, turning his suddenly glowing red eyes towards Danny.

"Like you're gonna beat me up with all those people around..." Danny broke off when Vlad sent a strong ecto-blast at him without even bothering to stand up.

The attack sent Danny hurtling across the grass. His whole body was shaking from the force of the attack and Danny could tell that the blast had been charged with electrical energy because there were faint bolts dancing across his skin which, thankfully begun to fade away quickly. "...What the heck was that for?!" he yelled, pushing himself up onto his feet.

"Never underestimate the enemy," Vlad said simply, "Don't let your guard down."

"And that was worth attacking me?!"

"Naturally."

"Argh! You're so messed up! Couldn't you have just said that in the first place?! Why do you even care about that stuff when you hate me anyway?"

"It's for your own good."

"Right, right, 'my own good'," Danny hissed, "Why didn't I think of that?! So every attack, every battle, every plan, every time you spied on me...it was 'for my own good'..."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Of course I don't," Danny exclaimed, "No one likes being spied on whatever the reason! And you can't lie to me - you hate me, I know you do. Every time we've fought I can tell you hate me."

Vlad scoffed and turned away, looking out at the landscape instead of at Danny. He didn't expect the boy to comprehend something that he himself was mostly unsure of. It was easy to forget things when fighting an 'enemy' and that had been the point - fighting was simple for Vlad, it was second nature to him now.

"But I don't get why you think you're doing everything for 'my own good' if you do hate me so much . I don't get it at all. I know you said you don't hate me, but every time you look at me all I see is hate. It's...scary," Danny admitted reluctantly. "I never wanted any enemies, it just happens."

"You were the one expecting to defeat me when we first met - before I'd even begun to antagonise you, I might add," Vlad replied pedantically.

"Yeah...look where that got me," the young hybrid muttered, "I get it okay, I do, really; throwing a punch first is bad. I know that now."

"Thank goodness," the man rolled his eyes, "That is the one good thing to come out of this."

"I don't see why we can't just try to get on," Danny shrugged, "I know you don't like my dad, but he's not here right now, I am."

"You can't change the fact that I still need my revenge, Daniel," Vlad shook his head, "Even if I'm driven to the point of insanity or destruction, I must have it."

"Why?"

"I'm a ghost, ghosts are nothing if not single minded about their deaths...even you."

"...Huh?"

"Tell me," Vlad began, "Why do you think you use your powers to protect people?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Danny sighed heavily.

"Because no one was there to protect you and prevent half of you from dying, so you're driven by your 'death' to protect others, not your morals," the older hybrid corrected him.

"Then why aren't you flying around like Superman?" the boy blinked in confusion.

"You don't need revenge, I do. I didn't cause my accident. I can't stop my desire for revenge any more than you can stop yourself from saving people. It's kept me going for twenty years and in a way, you have much more freedom than I ever will."

"...Bet that was hard to say..." Danny said slowly.

"You'll never know, little badger," Vlad gave a rueful smile and turned away from Danny. He said nothing else nor did he make any move to alleviate the thick tension in the atmosphere that made Danny very nervous. The young hybrid didn't take silence very well - growing up with his parents, life had always been noisy and active but clearly Vlad didn't mind it at all.

"...So...what happens now?" Danny asked, unable to take the silence a moment longer.

"Why don't you ask Clockwork, he seems to be leading this dance, after all," Vlad scoffed.

"I did ask him," Danny sighed, "He never explains things, he just talks in riddles...it's annoying."

"We can agree on that," the older hybrid smirked when Danny frowned. "If even the slightest agreement between us makes you so uneasy I don't see why you're bothering with this," Vlad added, reading Danny's mind like an open book.

"It's not that...it's just...I'm just waiting for you to say I should join you, or I should be more evil if I actually agree with you about something."

"Clearly you know me better than you think - mostly thanks to Clockwork, no doubt," Vlad shook his head.

"Is that...a bad thing? I mean, you know a heck of a lot about me...it's kinda creepy...but you do, so it's only fair that he evens things out...right?"

"Not everything is 'fair', haven't you learned that yet?"

"I guess, but I..." Danny sighed, "I'll just...stay out of your way then," he admitted defeat and turned around.

"...Daniel..." Vlad began as the boy started to walk away.

Danny turned back to Vlad, expecting an ecto-blast to the face, but saw that Vlad was pushing himself up from the steps and picking up his jacket. He made his way a over to the younger hybrid, "I assume you've already made a search of my castle?" he asked calmly.

"...Maybe...why?" Danny asked, confused at Vlad's abrupt a change in attitude.

"Did you find anything of interest?"

Danny couldn't help but be wary of Vlad's u-turn and he knew it would be a bad idea to tell Vlad that they'd been in the 'attic'. He was surprised that the man himself didn't ask about it since Vlad usually cut straight to the point when he wanted to know something. But in truth, Vlad had long since put it out of his mind that much of his childhood possessions and college work was hidden away in the tower, so he didn't think to ask Danny about it.

"...Maybe..." the boy repeated with a shrug.

"Daniel, a conversation doesn't work when one person only gives monosyllabic responses," Vlad rolled his eyes.

"...I liked the...armoury..." Danny muttered cautiously.

"I thought you might," the man smiled.

"Where'd you even get all that stuff from, anyway?" Danny asked, not expecting an answer, so he was surprised when Vlad gave him one.

"Most of it I found on my travels abroad."

"...Like Africa?" the boy ventured to ask.

"Like Africa, yes," Vlad nodded.

"Huh..." Danny breathed, still having a hard time picturing Vlad living with, and getting along with an African tribe - Vlad was always so prim and proper in his suits.

"What?"

"Nothing...I just can't imagine you...never mind..."

"Clockwork didn't show you everything then," Vlad chuckled, "I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies...I could tell you about it if you want."

"...Really?"

"Really," he emphasised.

"No...no catch?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Vlad said.

"...Okay then," Danny nodded, unable to hide his curiosity.

* * *

A.N. This one's a little longer (i.e. 700 odd words longer) than I intended, but I didn't want to cut any of it out or leave the conversation hanging until the next chapter. I'm not that cruel.


	6. An Intriguing Anomaly

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 6: An Intriguing Anomaly**

* * *

Vlad kept a watchful eye on Danny as they walked slowly through the garden. Although the older man had said he would tell Danny about his African collection, he was somewhat reluctant to speak. The thought of being listened to by Danny was a novel concept and so, naturally, Vlad was treading with caution.

In the meantime, the young hybrid was careful to watch every movement that the man made just in case he decided to attack, and this rather sloppy attempt at constant observation almost made Vlad weep. Vlad was a master at observation, covert or otherwise, but Danny didn't even know the basics. The older hybrid simply hadn't had enough time to 'teach' Danny everything he knew and since Vlad had to plan his 'lessons' carefully, it made things even more difficult. He couldn't 'teach' Danny anything without it having a purpose - so if he wanted Danny to learn to fight against multiple attackers, he had to set up a 'plot' for it to be necessary. If he wanted Danny to learn how to avoid electrical attacks, then he needed to use them in a fight and so on, and so on. It was a very laborious and tedious process.

"So..." Danny drawled, braving Vlad's wrath in breaking the persistent silence, "...Africa, then...you didn't steal that stuff...the bow, the arrows, the spear...right?"

"No, I didn't," Vlad sighed, "In fact they were made specifically for me as gifts."

"...Huh..."

"Don't believe me?"

"Erm...maybe..."

"I didn't think so," Vlad smirked, "But whether you do or don't; that is the truth. They were given to me by the Hadzabe tribe in Tanzania."

"...Why?"

"So that I could hunt with them," the man said, exasperatedly, as though it were obvious, "They are hunter-gatherers, some of the last reminding people to be completely isolated from cities and technology of any kind."

"You hunted...with arrows?"

"I did and I rather enjoyed it."

"Uh-huh," Danny hummed. He couldn't understand the attraction that Vlad and Skulker had to 'hunting'.

"You still don't believe any of it," Vlad stated with confidence.

"I just don't get why you'd live with a tribe and hunt with arrows...it's not...you're Plasmius...it's...weird..."

"If I did explain it to you, would you listen?"

"Yeah."

"Would you believe me?"

"...I guess..." Danny shrugged.

"Very well," Vlad let out a breath and stopped walking for a moment as he looked down at the boy. "I was twenty nine and I'd been in control of my company for four years. I had a vast fortune at my fingertips so I did what any wealthy young man does - I travelled. While a life in Wall Street is entertaining enough in its own right, I'd gotten bored so I went for the adventure," he explained. His eyes were alight with life and repressed excitement as he spoke and it was strange for Danny to see the man so alive. "I had the opportunity and the means to do whatever I wanted and I did."

Danny listened with rapt attention as Vlad spoke and he was able to see the human in the older man - his joy, even after all these years, when he'd finally been free from his father and his longing to see the world. It was something that Danny could understand for he too wanted to see the world, though he had no abusive family member to escape from, he often flew high in the night's sky to be free from their constant obsession of creating and discussing new weapons with which they could hunt down his alter ego.

"I did whatever I wanted, I went wherever I felt like going and no one could stop me," Vlad said, "I spent months in the mountain temples and villages of the Himalayas and I lived longer still with the Hadzabe in Africa."

"...I...I don't get it," Danny sighed slowly, "You have everything - you enjoy having everything. You like your stupid business work. I don't get why you'd just up and leave it all to live with tribes...I mean...there's nothing wrong with that or anything, but...you're Vlad...you like the high life."

"Yes, I do, and I did then," Vlad nodded, "But I was also bored with it. I spent so long immersed in my work without looking up and before I knew it, four years had passed me by without my realising it."

"So...it was...like...time off?"

"I suppose so," Vlad shrugged.

"Sounds like...fun," Danny smiled wistfully.

"You know what it's like to be bored of the same routine and yet at the same time, we can't imagine ourselves doing anything else. I enjoy my work because I have control but I hate it at the same time. You enjoy 'protecting' your town but at the same time you want to have your own freedom," Vlad told him with confidence and he shivered, once more unnerved by how well the older hybrid knew him.

"...That's still creepy..." Danny muttered to himself, forgetting for a moment that Vlad, like him, had enhanced senses.

"What is?" Vlad asked, smirking, "That I know you better than you care to admit?"

"...Yeah...that..."

"A person in my career has to be adept at reading people or I'd be back-stabbed at every turn - metaphorically speaking, of course. And it comes in handy when you get too complacent," he chuckled when Danny frowned.

"About that..." the boy began, indignantly, but Vlad seemed to ignore him.

"So, long story short, you searched my entire castle and all you found to interest you was the armoury," he said, in an attempt to bypass Danny's complaint. He knew it would lead to at least one of the losing their temper and most than likely, Vlad knew it'd be him first.

"...We didn't search the whole place," Danny sighed, letting his previous comment go. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere with his complaints and Vlad would only end up getting angry at him.

"Did you at least appreciate my art collection?"

"Meh," Danny shook his head.

"That's a disappointment," Vlad sighed dramatically, "An old masterpiece is as much a work of art as a well made sword or a suit of armour."

"Sure," the boy rolled his eyes, "You don't even have a swimming pool, do you? I thought all rich people had one somewhere."

"What would I do with swimming pool?" Vlad asked incredulously.

"Erm...lemme think...how about...swim in it?!" the boy waved his arms for emphasis.

"I have more important things in my estate than a swimming pool...is it that you want one?" the man asked after a moment with a smirk.

"Sure, who doesn't," Danny scoffed, "But I can't have one, I mean, where would I even put a swimming pool? Under my bed?"

"That is where living with me would be to your advantage, I could have one built anywhere you like within a few days if you so wished," Vlad replied smugly.

"Not gonna happen," the boy sighed automatically, "There's more important things in life than just having whatever stuff you want whenever you want it," he said after some thought.

"Not to me and not to the vast majority of the population," the older hybrid answered with a strange sadness in his eyes. "I could go out into the city and recite the same offer I've so frequently presented to you and more often than not, the answer would be 'yes.' People are nothing if not driven by greed."

"So what does that make me?" Danny asked.

"For the moment - an intriguing anomaly," Vlad replied, looking down at the boy.

"Great...I'm an anomaly."

"You do know what that means, don't you?"

"Duh," Danny mumbled, "...So...if I'm just an 'intriguing anomaly'...if I did say 'yes'...you'd end up getting bored and stop trying to 'train me' or whatever?" he asked curiously and Vlad burst out laughing.

"By no means, Daniel," the man chortled, "I'm afraid that will never happen."

"...Because I'm half ghost?"

"Perhaps," Vlad shrugged.

"Well...you didn't try and 'train' me or anything before you found out, and I didn't even know who you were before that," Danny said, "You knew who I was though."

"Your point?"

"My point is - you only want me to 'join' you 'cos I'm half ghost, not because you care or even because you like talking to me or anything! I don't want to do anything 'just because' I'm half ghost. Just because you're the only other person like me it doesn't mean you have the right to do anything you've done," Danny said quickly, hardly stopping for breath. "Yeah, you're my godfather as well, but most godparents make an effort to get to know the kid, not ignore them for fourteen years."

"...I was busy," Vlad said simply.

Danny was reminded of a similar conversation, Vlad had had with his mother and it made the young hybrid stop and take a breath before he continued.

"You were busy...playing businessman..." he sighed and Vlad glared at him in a mix of disbelief and anger. "I know...and I get it, I do. But we might not be fighting so much if you'd...maybe...y'know...stuck around...maybe..."

"You think I've never considered that?" Vlad asked, looking away.

"I don't know, you tell me. You were the one who told my parents that me and Jazz were 'never to know'," Danny shot back with some anger. "Look...if you really think that having money and power are so great, why aren't you happy?"

"What makes you think I'm not?" the man scoffed, obstinately.

"Well, gee, where do I start? How about the fact that you can't stop hating my dad for your accident?" Danny stressed the word. "If you were really happy, then revenge wouldn't matter so much and I...I t...think...t...that..." he began to stammer as his body was once more racked with violent shivers.

Danny wrapped his arms around his torso and he could see the bright sky and the warm sun even though he felt like he was being buried alive in a snow drift. It didn't make any sense to him why he'd be feeling so cold when it was the middle of summer and he'd been perfectly fine only moments ago. The first time it happened, he could pass it off a merely a cold spell, but twice? And this time it was much more cold than the first.

Vlad had sensed the younger hybrids ecto-signature suddenly explode in instability and he acted quickly by scanning his surroundings and pulling Danny to a more secluded spot behind the shadows of some large trees. He didn't want to risk any of his staff chancing upon a temporarily unstable hybrid. Vlad knew that he had been right and that Danny's ect-signature was spiking in energy which the boy had no idea how to control.

"Daniel?" he frowned, gripping the boy's shoulder. Danny had clenched his eyes shut and his teeth were chattering as he continued to shiver, unable to speak.

It had been years since Vlad himself had received any new powers but he could vividly remember what it had been like when he had. He remembered the intense electrical energy that he'd generated and he remembered the havoc that teleportation had played with his mind. Clearly, Danny's ghost powers were maturing significantly and whatever energy was forming, it was based on the cold. He remembered when he'd likened the boy's powers to a small candle flame, but perhaps that analogy had been wrong. With no one else to compare his own powers to, Vlad hadn't known what to expect with Danny's, but now it seemed that it was yet another example of irony at its best - making Danny's powers the opposite of Vlad's.

"...I...I'm fine..." Danny stammered, "W...what w...were we...t...talking ab...about?" His ghost sense continued to seep through his mouth in wispy trails of pale blue that dissipated in the calm breeze.

"Nothing important," Vlad answered as he stared intently at the younger hybrid.

"I...it was...it...it was...something...something a...about..." Danny continued to stutter through chattering teeth and slowly blueing lips.

It seemed that the seconds ticked by with exceeding slowness as Vlad regarded the shivering youth. Seeing the boy so stricken reminded him of his own unfortunate ghost power related accidents and he'd not had the benefit of having an older hybrid to ask for help. However, he knew that Danny would never ask him for advice so this wasn't going to be easy for either of them. Vlad knew that Danny's new powers were fighting to break through, and just like his own electrical ones had, they would build and build and build until finally they exploded out wards with disastrous consequences. There was only so much that Vlad could do when the line between bitter arch-enemy and barely tolerated conversationalist were paper thin to a mere teenager. This wasn't something he'd had time to factor into any of his plans and he cursed himself for forgetting his own early years of honing his powers. Vlad sighed at his negligence and wrapped his suit jacket around the shaking Danny who looked up in surprise.

His shivers were slowly subsiding and his blue ghost sense was no longer visible as he took slow, calming breaths. "...Glad that's over," Danny sighed. A shiver of relief, rather than of cold, ran through him and he pushed himself up off the ground.

"You don't seem very surprised about this," Vlad raised an eyebrow, "Has it happened before?"

"Erm...just once...earlier today...thought it was just a cold chill, it wasn't that bad though," the boy answered sheepishly, "No big deal," he shrugged.

"I can assure you it is a 'big deal', Daniel, in fact, you can't even begin to understand just how important it is."

"...Okay..." Danny dragged the word out, nervously, "Look, compared to everything else I have to deal with, a little cold chill here and there is the least of my worries."

"So you plan on ignoring it?" Vlad asked, exasperatedly.

"...I...erm...well...I figured...maybe, I'd kinda...yeah, I guess so," he relented.

"You really don't know anything about your ghost powers, do you?"

"I know enough," Danny crossed his arms, obstinately.

"Clearly not, child."

"My name is Danny!" he ground out. Vlad's jacket fell from his shoulders and he tensed.

"Alright, 'Danny', listen to me," Vlad began, in a tone that left no room for arguments, "I speak from experience when I say that ignoring this will be one of the biggest mistakes you could possibly make in regards to your powers."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Need I remind you I am the world's only expert on ghost-human hybrid physiology?" Vlad replied tersely and Danny frowned. "But, I know you won't believe a word I say, so just know this; this will not simply go away. It's not something you can ignore and when you realise this, you know where to find me."

"I...have no idea what you're talking about," Danny said.

"I know, but you will."

"Creeper," the boy muttered as Vlad retrieved his jacket and walked off without another word. For a moment, Danny wondered whether or no he should follow the older hybrid, but he thought better of it. He wouldn't know what to say for a start, and there was only so much awkwardness he could take for one day. So, instead of going in Vlad's direction, Danny turned away and went in the opposite.

After walking aimlessly for a few minutes though, Danny was sure he was lost, all the trees and pathways looked the same and when he heard a quiet whinnying he thought for sure he was well and truly lost. He approached the sound and found himself nearing the castle again as he passed under an old stone arch covered in moss and ivy to find a large open courtyard with a cobbled ground. It was surrounded on three sides by a structure made of both stone and dark wood and there was three people that Danny could see grooming horses.

"...Okay...this is way better than a swimming pool," he admitted quietly.

His eyes quickly alighted on what he was sure was the worlds' most stunning black horse. It had a long wavy mane and tail with the same feather-like hair above its hooves and there was a young woman wearing riding boots and a dark green uniform, holding the reigns.

"Sir," the woman said, holding out the reigns.

Vlad was walking quickly over the cobbles to take the reigns from her before mounting the horse with agility and ease. "She's in a good mood today," the woman remarked, smoothing down the animal's glossy black coat, "She even let us feed her," she smiled.

"That is good," Vlad replied sarcastically as the horse manoeuvred, its hooves clipping against the stone cobbles.

"For a Friesian she's too temperamental," the woman told him.

"I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree on this, Helena," Vlad shook his head, "I've not found fault with her yet."

"All due respect, sir, you're not the one who has to try and clean out her stables when she's in one of her moods."

Danny could only watch and listen in shock, he'd never seen Vlad partake in small talk of any kind. The man only chuckled and nudged the horse into a slow walk out of the courtyard. So shocked was Danny, that he forgot the hide as Vlad neared the archway and the man glanced down at him.

"Daniel?" he questioned.

"...Hi..." Danny said nervously, "I wasn't following you, I swear, I got lost I think and I..." he blurted out, waving his hands out in front of him.

"Do calm down, boy," Vlad sighed, "I don't need a headache."

"Heh..." Danny laughed sheepishly, "Erm...that's a...a nice horse..."

"I know," the man said, "But don't even think about riding her."

"I don't even know how to ride," Danny shrugged and this seemed to make Vlad think.

"Helena," Vlad called over his shoulder. To Danny it looked as though the man was shouting to an animal, but Helena didn't seem to care as she rolled her eyes and walked across to them.

"Sir?"

"Give Daniel some riding lessons," Vlad ordered, "And Daniel," he added quietly, "If I find any damage to my staff, my horses or my stables I won't be best pleased."

"Got it," Danny nodded. He had no idea why Vlad had suddenly come up with the brain wave of having Danny learn to ride but he didn't want to waste an opportunity. After all, how many people got the chance to ride horses owned by a billionaire?

"I'll be back in half an hour, master the basics by then," the man said, once again heading for the open fields.

"And...if I can't?"

"Then I'll be very surprised," Vlad said simply, nudging the horse into a faster trot, leaving Danny with a bemused looking Helena.

"You heard the man, let's get to work," the woman smiled at him as e glanced back nervously.

* * *

A.N. I just couldn't resist giving Vlad a stables. I know if I had his money and a giant castle with acres of land, I'd certainly have some horses as well. And I did mention horses in my other story, so I guess it can be a positive link to his childhood or something.


	7. The Big, Bad, Green Eyed Monster

**Different Effects of the Past**

**Chapter 7: The Big, Bad, Green Eyed Monster**

* * *

Luckily, Danny managed to limit the number of times he fell from his horse to only two. He liked the think that he was nimble and agile, but the fact that he was nervous and that he'd never ridden a horse before both made it difficult for him. Suffice to say that Helena was very amused at his nervousness as she tried continuously to encourage him. More than once, Danny wanted to give up but he was determined to see it through for at least the half hour that Vlad had specified. Not because he wanted to impress the older hybrid, but to prove to himself that he could do it, at least that's what he tried to tell himself.

About fifteen minutes later, Danny was sat in the saddle his a well tempered, Arabian mare with considerably more confidence than what he'd started out with. "So how'd you get stuck working for Vlad?" Danny asked curiously as he stroked the black mane of the chestnut coloured horse, "Is it like a punishment for something?"

"Are you kidding?" Helena scoffed, "People would kill for my job."

"...Huh?" he blinked, "You...like working here?"

"Of course I do; I work with first class horses without having to leave town. Do you have any idea what some of these animals cost? The Friesian he was riding earlier cost about..."

"I don't wanna know!" Danny shook his head quickly.

"I'd never even got to work with one before I started here, they're just that expensive," she told him. "Alright, now turn left," Helena added, standing back, watching as he executed a perfect turn. "Good, you're getting it," she beamed, "Wanna try for a trot now?"

"Erm...that's...running, right?" Danny asked nervously.

"No, a trot is slower than a canter or a gallop, we've got time to work up to those if you want, a trot isn't that much faster than a walk."

"...Okay," he nodded, gripping the reigns.

"Don't tense up, if you don't want to do it just say," Helena said.

"No, I do," Danny protested, "Besides, Vlad won't be happy if I don't try and I have to stay here for two weeks. I'd rather not have to make him mad until at least the last day."

"Let me worry about Mr. Masters, you just concentrate on riding the horse, remember, they can sense fear, so keep calm."

"Yeah, 'cos telling me that's really gonna help," Danny muttered.

"I heard that."

"Good," he shot back with a grin.

"Cheeky kid, aren't you?"

"Wow, and you only figured that out in ten minutes? You are smart," Danny laughed.

"I bet Mr. Masters doesn't appreciate your humour," Helena smirked at him.

"Ah, who cares? He needs someone to talk to him like a real person otherwise his ego'd just get even bigger."

"He'd fire any of us for talking like that."

"Well...we don't exactly get on," the boy admitted.

"But...you're staying here?" she asked curiously. She, like the rest of the castle staff, knew that their employer generally was an isolated man albeit a wealthy, intelligent one, who rarely had visitors to stay, let alone children.

"It's...complicated," Danny sighed.

"Alright, say no more," she replied quickly, "Are we gonna do this trot or not?"

"Yeah," he answered, only to happy to change the subject.

* * *

Jazz was reclining on a soft, ivory coloured chaise lounge in what had been deemed her 'bedroom' for the next two weeks. With the sunlight streaming into the room it was every inch a picture perfect, five star room that many people would kill to spend a night in. Along with all the classic décor there was also the best technology that moment could buy, for instance the flat screen television which had Internet access and a webcam which she was utilising to hold a conversation with Sam and Tucker.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them.

"...Hey...whoa..." Tucker broke off as he saw the room in the background, "Are you at the Ritz?"

"Tucker!" Sam scowled.

"Vlad gave his place a makeover, remember," Jazz sighed.

"Just look at all that stuff, he could help feed a third world country with all the money he wastes! Just how many bedrooms does that place have? Are they all like that?" the goth girl glared.

"I don't know, but that's not why I called."

"Right, right...any fights yet?" Sam asked sagely.

"Not physical fights, no," Jazz answered, "But it's been awkward."

"No duh," Tucker scoffed.

"It doesn't help that Vlad was actually trying to be nice this morning."

"...Vlad...nice..." Sam repeated slowly.

"Yeah...I admit it was weird and Danny kinda freaked but Vlad didn't explode, he just...walked off," the studious red headed shook her head.

"Weird," Sam and Tucker said simultaneously.

"Yeah."

"So where is Danny?" Tucker asked, "No offence but we were sort of expecting him to call."

"He went out looking for Vlad, I said he needed to try and work this thing out," Jazz answered.

"...You may have just signed his death warrant," Sam remarked.

"I don't think so," Jazz shook her head, "I think Vlad wants to get on with Danny but he doesn't want to share him with anyone else and because he knows that's impossible, he doesn't even try."

"...Head rush," Tucker muttered, "You sure you're not over thinking this?"

"I probably am, but I'm doing it for Danny," she replied, "I know Vlad's a dozen times stronger than he is...I mean...you saw him fight that red ghost thing too. I know we can get one over on him here and there, but I think that's because Vlad's never really tried to defeat us. Just think about it, you know what he can do, what he's been through and what he's done, do you really think he'd let any of us get in his way if he really planned to kill us? If he really wanted to I think he'd could get rid of us, including Danny, as easy as squashing a grape."

"You know, we have fought against the fruitloop and won before, right?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Did you hear any of what I just said?" Jazz exclaimed, "I don't want to admit any of it, but it's true. I know Danny's strong but Vlad's stronger, he's had his powers for twenty years - he knows things that we can't even begin to understand and if things got really bad between him and Danny then...I...I really think that Danny...would lose."

"So...you're only on Vlad's side because he's stronger than us?" Tucker said, "Doesn't that make you as manipulative as him?"

"Maybe..." she sighed, "But it's in Vlad's best interests too, at least that's what I tell myself."

"If things get too rough over there, we could take the Spectre Speeder through the Ghost Zone and come get you both," Sam remarked after a moments' thought.

"...How would you...never mind, I don't wanna know," Jazz waved a hand, "But I don't think that'd be a good idea...at least not yet."

"If you say so," Sam shrugged.

"Maybe I should go and find Danny," Jazz pursed her lip, "He has been gone for over twenty minutes now...and if things went south..."

"If things had gone south I think there'd have been an explosion or two by now," Tucker remarked.

"All the same...this place is just so big we agreed to keep our cell phones on so we could find each other," she smiled. "I'll call him and we'll talk later."

"Good luck then," Tucker logged out.

"If Danny's a goner you make sure Vlad knows we'll be coming for him," Sam grinned as she too logged off.

"Like that'll make a difference," Jazz muttered to herself. She took a moment to think about her own conduct in the conflict between her brother and Vlad and if she really was being manipulative. It wasn't a word she liked to credit herself with and in her heart of hearts, she didn't truly think that she was - like Clockwork had, Jazz believed she was acting in Danny's best interests. In all that she'd seen, Vlad seemed to purposefully repress any feelings that he considered 'weak' and in doing so, he'd isolated himself quite successfully but she believed that he really cared about Danny. Why else would he try and teach her brother anything even if he did go about it in all the wrong ways?

She stood from the chaise lounge with renewed energy and took out her phone so that she could find the young hybrid in question.

* * *

Vlad let out a sigh as he surveyed the vast expanse of land before him, the acres upon acres of peaceful grassland filled with quiet groves and streams had been his home for years. The city was barely visible in the distance through the trees and that was how Vlad liked it. With a quiet sound of encouragement and a gentle nudge to his horses' flank he took off, cantering over the fields until the horse was galloping at top speed once again. Unlike everyone else who rode on horseback, Vlad knew he didn't have to worry about falling off and succumbing to injuries, although that certainly hadn't stopped him from riding when he'd been a child. Being able to ride far away from his father's house had been his one escape as a boy and so, on his rise to riches, horses had been one of the first things he'd actively sought out and arguably, he'd gone a little overboard. He had, at present, six horses stabled at his castle all of which had cost a small fortune, especially his favourite, the Friesian mare, and he employed seven people just to care for the animals.

As he neared the castle after the half hour was over, Vlad couldn't help but concentrate his energies on watching the boy's ghost signature for any more abrupt changes. What worried him was the blasé attitude that Danny had towards his powers. Vlad had made concerted efforts to understand his powers, he'd carried out experiments and isolated himself until he fully understood how they worked. In contrast, Danny, like many teenagers, believed that it somehow resolve itself with little to no effort on his part. Although, Vlad had to admit, he'd had the technical knowledge to enable his study of his powers, Danny did not. If the boy had chosen to let Vlad teach him, he would have made sure that that same knowledge was available to him, but it wasn't so simple.

Vlad brought the horse to a slow walk back under the archway and into the courtyard to see Danny smiling as the Arabian mare trotted quickly over the cobbles. He could see that Jazz was also there on her own horse with a young man following the animal and Helena watched them carefully. Not one seemed to notice him as he dismounted his horse and lead it by the reigns across to them.

"Well, I don't see anything broken," he remarked, stroking his horses' muzzle, "Bones or otherwise, so I assume you've done well."

"He's done very well," Helena told him, "They both have."

"Well?" Vlad raised an expectant eyebrow, "How many times did you fall off?" he asked Danny.

"Erm...twice..." the young hybrid admitted sheepishly as he slowed his horse down.

"Really, Daniel, once is bad enough," Vlad lamented.

"Hey, I've never ridden a horse before...and I just have bad luck!"

"I'm almost sorry I didn't stay to see you make a fool of yourself."

"Hah hah," Danny replied dryly.

"And how long have you been here?" Vlad asked Jazz.

"About five minutes," she answered.

"She had to call my cell to just to find me in this maze," Danny muttered but Vlad seemed to ignore the jab at the extravagance in his choice of home.

"Come along then, Daniel," Vlad said, "We'll see just how quickly you actually learn."

"Huh? What?" Danny blinked.

"I think you'll find it much more satisfying riding out in the fields than in an enclosed courtyard," the older hybrid told him.

"But I'm a beginner!"

"You learn quickly and besides, what kind of godfather would I be if I allowed my own godchildren to be injured on my own property?" he grinned.

"...Somehow that's still not very reassuring," Danny muttered back.

"It'll have to do," Vlad replied, "But you could think of it this way if necessary," he added much more quietly, "What possible damage could a horse do that I couldn't inflict on you tenfold?"

"Well, you already zapped me earlier," the young hybrid said quietly.

"I assure you, you'll be perfectly safe," the older hybrid replied.

"Sir, I..." Helena began cautiously as Vlad mounted his horse.

"I don't want to hear it," Vlad cut her off, "Come along, Daniel."

"...Erm...okay..." Danny blinked in confusion, but he decided to do as Vlad said. With one last glance at his sister, Danny tried to assure her that he'd be careful and smart when it came to any further interaction with Vlad, and before he knew it he was riding slowly out into the open fields around the castle.

Danny made sure to ride a short distance behind Vlad's black Friesian and he made a point not to speak unless he was spoken to. It wasn't that he was tying to be to pinnacle of politeness, rather he was trying to avoid any more awkward conversations that would lead to Vlad attacking him. To Danny it was another prolonged example of just how different his life was to other teenagers that he had to even think about being zapped with ectoplasm. In his mind, Danny was sure that he'd had more than enough 'quality time' with Vlad for a whole year let alone a single day but clearly the older hybrid didn't agree with him.

"So, tell me Daniel, how is your school work faring?" Vlad spoke after a few minutes and Danny was taken aback.

"...W...what?" Danny blinked slowly. To say he was confused was a bit of an understatement. Had Vlad Plasmius really just asked him something as mundane as 'how is school' or was he imagining things?

"It's a simple enough question, or didn't I use enough monosyllabic words?" Vlad asked in a dry voice and Danny couldn't help but growl in his automatic frustration.

"I meant," the young hybrid began through gritted teeth, "Why the heck are you asking? Don't you have cameras watching me everywhere anyway? And why do you even care?" Danny took a deep breath as soon as the angry words had left his mouth and he sighed, "Sorry...I just...it's just..." he poorly attempted to explain. In truth he didn't want to admit that it was a knee-jerk reaction for him respond to anything Vlad said with anger and hate but Vlad probably understood without Danny needing to speak.

"A perfectly understandable response to an enemy addressing you," the man said, finishing Danny's unfinished sentence.

"Yeah...that," Danny said, surprised by Vlad's civil and calm response, "This is so weird," he muttered to himself.

"And how do you think I feel?" the man rolled his eyes and Danny blinked.

"Heh heh...y'heard that huh?"

"Daniel, please remember just what I am," Vlad sighed.

"It's not like I'm gonna forget any time s...s...soon..." Danny replied suddenly feeling the cold shivers wrack his body again. "N...not a...again..." he cursed. He managed to bring the horse to a stop as he fought to control the shivers now afflicting him.

"Daniel?"

"I...I'm f...f...fine...it...it'll go away..."

"No, it won't, why won't you listen to me?" Vlad whispered, watching as Danny gritted his teeth.

"L...like you...like you l...listen t...to me..."

"I'm your superior."

"J...jerk..."

Vlad waited until Danny's shivers subsided and watched as the boy shrugged off its affects as though in a nonchalant manner. Vlad decided it was best not to bring up the subject again, he wouldn't mention it until Danny needed his help badly enough to ask for it, which, knowing him, would be a long time in coming. Fortunately though, Vlad was a patient man.

"So...erm..." Danny began a while later, the silence once again making things unbearable for him.

"Yes?"

"I've...I've been meaning to ask...some things Clockwork showed me...are you, I mean...you were hospitalised for two whole years...and I wasn't," he said uneasily. It was better for him to focus on something else quickly, because if e didn't, he'd be left to dread just why he'd had another cold spell and what they were. And he didn't want to focus on that.

"Your point?" Vlad snapped, his mood suddenly souring.

"Were you...are you...jealous?" Danny asked and Vlad blinked.

For a long time it had bothered him, one more than one occasion it had almost driven him mad just thinking about it and dwelling on the raging fury inside him. He'd known from a young age that life wasn't fair, he understood that bad things happened no matter who or what you were. But what he couldn't understand was why Daniel didn't have to endure the two long years of agony and isolation that he'd been forced to suffer. It just wasn't fair. Daniel had everything he'd wanted as a child; a father that loved him. A mother that didn't feel responsible for bringing a child into a home ruled by an abusive patriarch. A loving, normal relative, in the form of his sister, that was constantly there for him and not being constantly dragged off back to the old country. And, last but by no means least, Daniel hadn't suffered nearly as much as Vlad had when he'd been developing his powers.

But perhaps it was better that way; he wasn't sure when exactly he'd begun to think that. If it came down to it, would he really want Danny to go through what he'd had to, completely alone? No, he didn't. Not Daniel.

"Don't be ridiculous, Daniel," Vlad scoffed, shaking his head and urging his horse onwards.


End file.
